A New Life, A New World
by Klaanvdia
Summary: Lavi and Kanda have been given a second chance at their life. The question is, are either of them willing to take it?
1. Prologue

**A/N: Here's the new and improved Prologue! Beta'd by the amazing saxon-jesus (go check her out!), I listened to Sacrifice by TATU while writing this, but that's just me. I am really proud of this, it's **_**way**_** better then the last one! Hopefully you agree. I'm still suffering from PMWS (Post Mental Writer's Stress) and slowly recovering by writing… yes I know weird. I just need to write without the pressure I put on myself to update.**

**Disclaimer—I do not own D-Man, I only lay claim to my OC's and my world and everything else I create in this AU. Lavi, Kanda and all the other D-Man characters, again, don't belong to me.**

**Enjoy!**

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August 17, Monday

Raised voices caught Lavi's attention and pulled him from the deep sleep that had claimed him. The first thing he noticed was the absence of the pain in his chest, where the level 4 had stabbed him. Then he noticed the quiet. Well that **was** strange. Where was he? He opened his eyes slowly; when that simple task was accomplished, Lavi attempted to turn his head but immediately discovered that was a bad idea and his eyes shut again.

His mind was sluggish; working slower than usual so he didn't notice there was another person there with him. A low groan escaped him; Lavi absolutely loathed it when his mind was in this state. Green eyes were opened again to stare up at the clear black sky with purple swirls.

It took all of two seconds for that fact to register in his mind, it took another two seconds for Lavi to comprehend he was looking at the aforementioned sky with two eyes.

His body stiffened and he slowly raised a hand to his right eye, his fingers resting lightly over it.

_What. The. Fuck?_

Road had him trapped again, was his first thought , but then he remembered he had died.

Lavi's brain then proceeded to come up with the brilliant solution of shutting down and locking.

The next time he woke, a face was in his vision. A female, brown-eyed, shoulder-length red haired, face. They stared at each other for a solid minute before Lavi remembered.

"I'm alive!" His head jerked up with the rest of his upper body and he banged into the girl above him. Or would have if she hadn't moved away a half second before he jerked up.

His world then decided to reward his action with the brilliant option of spinning round and round. He had no choice but to follow its lead and press his back against the ground to steady it again.

A mad coughing fit ensued afterward, that- he guessed- had something to do with the fact that his throat felt like sand paper. Add the little detail that he had tried (yes, tried,as in he didn't succeed) to talk, well a coughing fit was inevitable.

A cool hand rested on his forehead. A comfortable cold spread throughout his body, erasing the dizziness into nothing. After receiving the dose of Killer Headache Begone, Lavi was staring into brown eyes again.

"Wha… What?" It came out more clearly, but was quietly spoken.

The unknown female smiled, "Hey Lavi," the 'hey' was drawn out and the two words spoken softly.

"What?"

A soft laugh came from her, "I have a lot of stuff to explain to you, but first let's get you off the ground, yeah?" She held out her hand and for a few moments he just stared at it.

The red-haired exorcist had no idea who this person was and he was considering taking her hand. Where was the paranoia that had been built over the years at the Order? She could be an Akuma that planned on killing him!

Despite those words running through his head, Lavi still took her hand and allowed her to haul him up(so he apparently had a death wish, no biggie).

This time there was no spinning.

She smacked her hands together and put them against her lips. The girl was a good deal shorter than him, four inches tops; her hair was a lighter red than his and straight. Sharp features conquered her face, marking her more handsome rather than pretty. She wore a uniform of sorts; black pants and a black jacket that was buttoned halfway showing a white T clinging to her flat chest.

"Okay let's get down to explaining, shall we?" Her smile was still there on her face—_well of course it was where else would it be! _Lavi thought.

He nodded while taking a good look around. It was a wasteland here, nothing but cracked earth with the occasional dry bush here oand there.

Another clap claimed his attention and focused it back on the girl, "Okay, introductions first, explanations later." She cleared her throat, "My name is Rosary Miller—my friends call me Rose, I am a Green-belt level C and I am also your," she pointed her joined hands at him, "guide."

"Guide?"

She nodded, "Hmm-mm and don't worry Lavi, I already know who you are, also, I'll just skip straight to the explanation. Where we are now, this barren land is called the Before Valley." She spread her arms wide, "This is where the revived people from Earth come to. So to clear it up, you did die but you were revived and brought here." Almost as an afterthought she added, "Please don't freak."

_Freak? Why would I freak? I just been told I was revived from the dead… no I'm not going to freak, weirder things have happened._

"How?" Lavi was skeptical about this, for all he knew he could be dreaming.

"Nobody really knows how, it just happened."

"I died."

"Brilliant assessment, give the dude a medal!" Rose gave Lavi a look, "Did I not just say that?" Despite her words she patted Lavi's back, "I understand though kid, it's hard." Lavi just nodded a little.

"So… Where exactly am I supposed to go?"

Lavi watched Rose, his… guide. Guide for exactly what, he did not know yet.

She nodded and her hands went into her pockets, "Well, Lavi, you are going to All-Elemental Academy. Where we go to learn to control our powers and how to be upstanding citizens." The last bit was said with a sarcastic flourish. Lavi allowed a small laugh, she seemed to brighten.

"As your guide, I am supposed to help and lead you through your first year at the Academy."

_Ah. One mystery solved, who knows how many left to go._

"You're taking this much better than I did." It was whispered and Lavi was sure he wasn't meant to hear it but he caught it anyway.

A part of the conversation stood out to him though, "What powers?"

She had said earlier that she was a Green-belt level C, what did that mean and what was it?

"Uh, right." Rose looked up for a second, Lavi waited patiently for her to gather her thoughts.

His hand wondered down to his stomach where a hole was supposed to be, but because of his revival wasn't. Would it be considered reincarnation? No, that's an entirely new start.

"'Okay."

Lavi gave a nod for her to continue.

"Well, I would love to explain the whole cha-bang to you here, but the carriage is going to be here soon. So I'll just explain mine."

She rolled up her sleeve to her elbow and held out her arm for his inspection. A green ribbon was wrapped around her arm, tightly, almost like it was a part of her.

"This mark means I'm a Green-belt, I have the power to control plant life, bend the earth, shape wood and all the stuff. But that's just the immediate powers; I can also use raw power to perform all sorts of spells."

Lavi nodded, made sense, did he have one? Rose must've understood his look and guessed his question because her next words were, "You won't have yours yet; you're still a newbie."

Nodding and still rubbing his mid-section, Lavi continued to stare at her arm. It really did look real.

Revived. All-Elemental Academy. Green-belt. Died. Powers.

This would've been hard to believe if Lavi hadn't been an Exorcist and a Bookman…

Been.

Getting revived into his new world after dying in the last… he wasn't Bookman jr. anymore was he?

The small pang in his chest went ignored.

What about the war? Did it end? Did they win? Who else died? Who lived? Allen? Lenalee? Komui? Bookman? Lavi's eyes grew considerably large as the questions bombarded him.

It was too much. Too much. Too much information that he did not have the answers to. Where was his calm? He was panicking;he knew this fact because he was having trouble breathing and—a hand gripped the one on his stomach and cold spread.

His panic disappeared and he was able to focus on his guide, "Lavi. It's best if you were to just forget about everything before."

"Why?" he whispered.

A hand came up and smoothed his hair back, "Because you're starting anew."

Lavi had nothing to say to that.

"On a different note, "Rose stepped back and gave a grand gesture drawing Lavi's eyes to a carriage, "Your transport is here."

It was driverless and very, very goth. The door was open and waiting… for him?

"I'm supposed to go in there?"

"Yes."

"Alone?"

"Yes."

Lavi nodded, stepping into a creepy carriage, yeah nothing to be paranoid about there.

She grabbed his face and made him look at her, "When you get to the Gate, there's going to be a guy there. He's the Gatekeeper; all you have to do to gain entry is tell him your name."

Lavi nodded as best he could with the iron grip she had on him.

Her lips pursed and she squinted her yes, Lavi burst into laughter. "What? What's with that face Rose-chan?"

Pretty soon he was gasping for breath and clutching his stomach.

"Lavi it… wasn't that funny."

_Then why am I laughing so hard?_

Hands gently gripped his shoulders and led him to the carriage, "I'll see ya on the other side."

They were at the door before he was calm enough to ask his question, "What about you?" She gently pushed him and he got inside.

Rose held on to the door, "Oh, yeah about that. Um…" she scratched her shin, "I'm just a doppelganger."

Pause.

"Oh," Lavi blinked, nodded, "Okay, that makes perfect sense."

Rose laughed, "I'll explain the rest when you're on the other side, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"See ya, Lavi." The door was shut and he felt a jerk as the carriage went mobile.

As the carriage rolled away the doppelganger fell apart, rocks falling and becoming part of the valley once again.

The inside of the carriage was plain, the seats black and comfortable. It smelled like it looked, old and dusty; a small light glowed from above, lighting up the small space. It spread warmth throughout his body, like the one Rose gave him. Lavi took a look at the other occupant; he had spotted her when Rose shut the door. She was younger than him, she had blonde hair and black eyes. She was a small thing with a heart- shaped face and button nose.

There were no windows so he had nothing to look at for the ride.

Lavi's eyes started to droop, blackness creeped into his vision. He yawned.

Why was he so tired? He had been wide awake a moment ago.

The harder he tried to stay awake, the sleepier he became. His mind became foggy and he couldn't move his limbs; he'd only close his eyes for a moment.

Julia looked at the new-comer as he fell under the carriage's spell. She should kill him right now, before he came into his powers and became a foe strong enough to defeat Kijo. She should, but that didn't mean she was going to.

As a black-belt, she could summon a shadowling and strangle him. She wasn't going to though.

She would see what was going to happen; her body became transparent and slowly dissipated. The shadows left the carriage and Lavi was left alone.

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**Hope you enjoyed! If you did click review and leave me a comment or two (or three) and tell me what you thought of it. **

**Now I tell you I'm going to taking a break from Fanfiction—more specifically the updating part. I'm not going to put a date up because then the pressure comes and I will need a longer vacation. **

**Truly Yours, **

**Klaanvdia**


	2. Chapter One

**A/N: I present for your viewing pleasure, ANLANW chapter one! Edited and re-written to it's fullest extent. This chapter was beta'd by the very talented saxon-jesus and I hope you all have the urge to check out her stories because they are amazing. Hope you all enjoy it! Happy reading!**

**Disclaimer - check out the prologue**

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The gate in the Before Valley is a small wooden door that varies in size. Behind the door waits the Gatekeeper. The carriage releases its sleep spell on you a hundred feet from the door and drops you off. When there, you enter the door and walk down Wood-stone's hallway, the one that connects the three worlds. You will eventually come to a set of stairs that leads to a small room where the Gatekeeper waits. He will ask for your name and the identity of your guide. After he has checked the book for your name, he will let you into another room where all the other first-years will be waiting. What nobody takes notice of, is how long all this takes, they could be in there anywhere from a week to a month.

September 18, Friday

Student's milled about the campus of All-Elemental Academy; some were discussing their future classes and others catching up on their friends' lives. It was early in the morning and the night before more than half the school's population had arrived. All that were left to arrive were the first years.

Guides stood in a semi-circle around the lone gate of the two kilometer high wall that went on for miles around the entire school facility. People watched them curiously, watching the three hundred plus guides squirm and fidget nervously.

There was one calm one among them though; she wore a baggy brown short sleeved shirt that could be mistaken for a dress. A leather cord secured around her waist kept the shirt in place against any gusts of wind that may happen. Her feet were bare and looked comfortable upon the rock walkway. Her red hair was pulled back from her face with a black bandana her girlfriend had given her the night before.

Rosary Miller was a rock among skittering bugs.

When a fellow guide groaned out of annoyance after looking at his watch—thereby confirming that the new students were late—Rose wasn't bothered a bit. It was only two minutes. Then five minutes passed and a fourth-year white-belt began to chew her nails. All the years she had been here, the first-years had never been late.

Rose stayed exactly where she was, not a muscle tensed.

Eight minutes passed and a few began to consider fetching a teacher to check out the gate. It seemed fine, but the fact stood out to them all; this had never happened before.

Rose's arm twitched the slightest bit.

Twelve minutes and a third-year came back with a weapon's instructor behind him, both of them jogging. He was a very old man, but he had a strong body and heart that kept him going. He walked up to the heavy metal gate, taking only a moment to examine it. No magic emanated from the foot thick bars that made up the gate doors and the light that was supposed to be shining through didn't look to be anywhere in sight. The burly man considered it for a second and then spoke quickly to the third year that had fetched him.

The crowd that had assembled had begun to worry as soon as the instructor had been sent for. Now they mumbled to each other as they looked on and the third-year went back into the crowd to watch everything as it panned out. One lone figure in the crowd, a brown-haired, brown-eyed, five foot six inch girl, looked at Rose curiously—who still had yet to seem bothered at all by the events unfolding right in front of her.

When the third year came back, there were three other teachers with him and the head nurse of the infirmary.

The five belts conversed and while they did so a large number of students relaxed. They separated and stood in front of the gate; they focused for a minute, gathering their power. A hush fell over the assembled crowd, the guides backed up. Slowly a chanting could be heard growing in volume. The words were to gibberish to them. Five hands rose and five fingers drew symbols in the air as they thrust their arms forward. The five symbols shot forward and sank into the metal. Their light spread until it encompassed the whole gate. The chanting quickened and someone looked away for fear of being blinded by the heightening light. Suddenly, it stopped, the light dissipated and they all waited.

The gate remained closed, a guide moaned in despair, but refrained from breaking down into tears, if only because the teachers remained calm. Light burst into life and caused some shrieks, but those were drowned out in comparison to the clanging of the gate doors opening and the cheering that burst forth.

Rose jolted awake.

KxL

Lavi, when asked about his journey from the Before Valley, to the gate and all the details in between, would say he hardly remembered. Because as soon as the redhead took his first step on All-Elemental Academy soil, his journey and the worry he felt when the room had begun to shrink were banished to the back of his mind. The people who were also in there came out behind him, pushing him forward onto the walkway. Lavi surveyed his surroundings, after shaking off his feeling of disorientation. People were everywhere; all of them looked stressed and/or relieved. The ones who had been waiting on the walkway rushed forward to embrace the ones exiting the doorway.

Not everyone was in the crowd though observing them though. Many more were meandering on the lawn that seemed to stretch on for miles. Straight ahead was a three story building that was attached to two identical structures on either side of it and all were connected by walkways on the second level. There was a round building close to it and several more were spread out across the yard.

It was all very university-like. Lavi raised his eyebrow in interest and then looked back into the room he had previously occupied.

_**I wonder where the library is**_, he thought, _**Bookman would-**_

The smile that had begun to form slipped away and reality hit home hard. His muscles were sore and he was more tired than he could remember being, but that didn't bother him. Lavi was used to this; it was something that had happened to him before, many times. But suddenly, it was so much worse.

Then Rose was in front of him and he was relaxing and Bookman was momentarily forgotten. She let go of his hand and smiled; it wasn't an annoyingly happy one either, like the one he wore for his persona. "Glad you could make it Lavi." She said.

She wasn't panicked, he noticed, she was the only one that wasn't in some sort of distressed state. What the hell happened?

The male red-head—who suddenly noticed his hair was inexplicable longer than when he had last spoken to Rose—watched a six-foot tall man with green streaks question another, much shorter and less dangerous looking man, worriedly.

He was about to ask about that, but his guide looped her arm through his and began to lead him away gently. They bumped into a few people on the way but were paid no mind; then Rose started talking, "You don't have to pay them any mind, they're crazy." She sounded so serious about the last part he had to chuckle.

"I doubt they're as crazy as…"

Komui.

Lavi stopped and grabbed the material of his shirt above his heart, something was pressing down on it. Before he could analyze it further, a now familiar cold washed over him and the beating of his heart slowed until he could breathe properly again.

Had he been panicking?

Lavi was confused, he couldn't remember what he had been thinking and it was kind of pissing him off, "What?"

Rose still had that smile, "I was just explaining about tomorrow. I'm going to pick you up early for a tour of the campus they're giving tomorrow for newcomers like yourself."

Unexpectedly, Rose led them off the walkway they had been following dutifully and across the grass filled with curious onlookers, who were still observing the lessening crowd near the gate. Lavi looked ahead in the direction they were walking; there was a large ten story building. Then he, weirdly enough, paid close attention to the grass.

Green, green grass that almost seemed to grow and oh-so-soft. Soft enough to sleep on. Maybe he would. Right now.

Lavi went to do just that, but when he started to go down he was jerked back up and kept in a walking motion by his guide, who had surprising strength.

"I know you must be tired, but you can fall asleep on your own mattress, in your own room; not on the grass. Even if it is an excellent place to catch a few Z's". The last part was said wistfully.

Soon they were walking up the six steps it took to get to the front door and inside. He was hardly noticing anything anymore, his eyes were drooping and the heaviness in his limbs was becoming more noticeable.

They walked up enough flights of stairs that Lavi knew they were on the fifth floor, he was aware enough to notice that much.

He read the numbers on the door to a room, which he presumed to be his, while his guide fumbled with the lock.

157

"I'll leave your key in your room for you."

_**I was right**_, Lavi thought.

When the lock clicked she went in ahead of him, assuming correctly that he'd follow. Lavi only bothered to notice the room was small, a twin bed was pushed up against the right wall and the dresser was across from it. It smelled musty and a sheet was ever the window. Obviously, it had been a long time since it had been used.

"Ignore the smell; this room… hasn't been used in… I have no idea how long. It'll be cleaned soon, tomorrow at the latest." Rose stood beside a desk that was dusty and old-looking, "Well, I'll leave you to catch up on your sleep then." She came over and gave him a one armed hug, "Sleep well, kid."

He smiled, "See you tomorrow, Rose-chan." He was so tired.

Rose nodded, squeezed his shoulder one last time and left. The click of the door echoed.

The loneliness came, something that had never used to be a problem before, and was ignored to the best of his ability. It was time to sleep. He could deal with everything tomorrow when his brain was functional.

Ignoring the smell, Lavi dropped onto the bed and let sleep pull him deep down until not even the whole building falling down would have been able to wake him up.

KxL

It was beautiful outside, sun shining, birds singing. A perfect day, a day to be happy. At least, in theory. Kanda sat on a window seat looking out at all the splendor of it, wishing he could just cut it all away. His hand went to his side, where something very familiar should've been but wasn't. Maybe he could start a fire and simply forget to take the proper precautions…

"You look murderous. Why?"

The familiar voice came from behind him; he turned and looked at Alma.

"It's too cheery out there." He said bluntly.

Alma laughed, something Kanda used to miss so much, and came over to hug him. The swordsman let him, it was Alma, it was okay. His friends head rested on his shoulder, "You're so depressing Yuu."

Kanda grunted.

A few more minutes passed in silence. Kanda wasn't a talker and he silently thanked Alma for being quiet too.

When Kanda had first come to this second world, where he now resided, his guide had been Alma. His Alma. He couldn't believe his good fortune, he's lost him, now he had him back, but the cost still tore at him. He had gained his powers two months in and soon after they had met Rose and her group of friends.

Her best friend Jenna was someone Kanda really didn't like, she was loud and brash and someone that liked, very much, to get in trouble. There was Vinny, who was a fourth year like Alma, and Kanda could tolerate the man, but there was one flaw. He had a crush on Jenna. Mana was someone Kanda could spend a reasonable amount of time with. She was quiet, calm, thoughtful, almost another Lenalee. Out of the whole group, she must've been the only sane one; the only questionable thing about her was why she chose to date Rose.

Alma had taken to them right away, but Kanda had held back, he didn't see a need to get to know them.

The fact that he was currently in Mana's home was completely void, Alma had dragged him here.

Alma had also dragged him outside to socialize with 'their' friends. Kanda loved Alma and everything but the long-haired man wanted to be alone.

There was a scream and water crashed onto him. Kanda stood in shock, wet clothes clinging to him, hair over half his face. Then an annoying, familiar laugh rang out and he began to reconsider his long ago promise to Alma not to kill any of his friends.

"Jenna." He growled through gritted teeth.

Kanda turned and looked at the brown-haired girl. She was wading in the water. They were all at a lake behind Mana's house, swimming, except for Kanda himself. Alma could get him out here, but here was no way Alma was getting Kanda in the water.

Jenna laughed and swam further out, "Sorry Kanda, but you shouldn't be sitting there if you don't want to get wet." Finished with that, she dove under and resurfaced a few meters out beside Mana. The two girls tackled each other.

Mana will win, Kanda thought and removed his sopping shirt. He looked down and found Alma staring at him.

"What?" He asked annoyed.

Alma shrugged and pushed his short hair out of his eyes, then reached up, "Help?"

Kanda rolled his eyes but reached down anyway and-

-was pulled harshly down, he fell head first into the lake.

The swordsman came up sputtering and angry, he turned, but Alma was gone. Something tugged him by his legs back under. Kanda opened his eyes and saw his friend's amused face.

Okay, it was on.

Much later, they both lay flat on the dock beside each other, Alma laughing and Kanda trying to catch his breath. A hand linked through Kanda's and held on, "Do you think anybody from the Order will-"

"No." Kanda interrupted sharply.

"Even him?" Alma asked softly.

Kanda stared up at the sky, thinking, there had been anger in Alma's first question. After a second Kanda answered, "No."

"Do you want him to be there?"

Kanda took a peek at the most important person in his life and found the man staring at him hard. Kanda squeezed their linked hands, "You're all I want Alma. Truthfully, I'd be all the happier if none of the Order ever came here."

The smile Alma gave him was worth the lie.

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**Hope you all enjoyed it and chapter two is getting uploaded right now. Now if you all would please just write your thoughts on this chapter in the pretty little white box down below it would greatly appreciated! :) Plus it's the right thing to do. It builds character!  
**

**Yours truly,  
**

**~Klaanvdia  
**


	3. Chapter Two

**A/N: Aloha~! Fanfiction readers :D I hope you're all having a wonderful day today, I sure am. I just got my wisdom teeth out and am sick, but I'm letting that get me down. You know why? Because what I got here is chapter two of ANLANW! Which was beta'd by saxon-jesus, who I am greatful to have as my beta. I hope you all enjoy it and happy reading!**

**Disclaimer - check out the prologue**

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Dreamstate – A state of mind that an individual can escape to after a traumatic experience. It's automatic, when your brain is overloaded with so much grief that you can't breathe, it's instantaneous. One minute you're in the real world, the next you're in a world where you only know your name and you only feel bliss. Some have been known to stay in their Dreamstates for the rest of their long lives. Time makes no sense in a Dreamstate; two hours there, could be three days in reality, two weeks can be ten months. Or the other way around. You can easily be killed in your Dreamstate, as you are at your most vulnerable while there.

~Biology—Mr. Bone-stone

September 19, Saturday

_Blood splashed harshly against the exorcist's face and the lifeless body began to crumble in his arms as the Akuma poison took possession of it. Lavi leapt back before it did and gulped a yell that almost made it past his throat. The foul smell of human ashes invaded his sense again. In truth, he was used to it, but that didn't mean he would ever like it._

_The Akuma screeched and came down on him viciously, always going for a kill. Lavi readied himself and waited until it was almost too close, then swung his hammer and—_

_-and hit his target causing a sickening crunch to echo throughout the battle worn field. Noises seemed muted to his ears almost, like background music instead of the main track. He didn't know what was going on except for what was happening in front of him and to him. When he removed his weapon, what he saw wasn't the remains of a blown Akuma, but a very broken and bleeding human being._

_Pure horror invaded him in that moment, then the dam broke, "Old man!" Lavi screamed so loud the heavens should have shook. The exorcist shook his head back and forth rapidly, "No, no no no no no…" he chanted desperately and reached with shaking hands to the broken carcass of a man. His mentor. His teacher. A keening noise left him, "Ol-Old m-ma-ahhh!"_

_Words wouldn't come, all he could feel was the gut-wrenching sorrow that seemed determined to choke him into oblivion and crush his heart with its intensity._

_It wasn't supposed to happen like this! An Akuma! Lavi had hit an Akuma! The-the old man was… he was…_

_Lavi's hands just touched his mentor's jacket when the Akuma came and ran him through._

_"No!"_

_Then his world bled of color and he was nowhere and there was nothing._

KxL

September 20, Sunday

"He's hot."

"Well, of course he is."

"Yeah and you should cool him down."

"What?!"

He knew one of those voices, that voice was familiar, but how?

"Oh, come on sweetie, I know you can do it, you cooled me down."

"No, I cooled you off, there's a difference."

The other voice was new. It reminded him of ice, of all things. And they were saying he needed to be cooled down, but he didn't feel hot, he didn't feel anything.

"The nurse is busy and his temperature is rising. You could practically see the steam."

"Then I'll go get another nurse."

He felt weird, his body was heavy, but his head was light. Maybe this was how being a cloud felt like.

"Sweetie, please, I cannot lose my first charge. You know how deadly the diseases are."

"What if I freeze him?"

"…Um… Then at least you tried."

"Don't smile at me like that."

Lavi felt his body jerk, and he wondered why he couldn't wake up. He jerked again and suddenly, unexpectedly he couldn't breathe properly.

"Shit!"

"Turn him, he'd puking in his fucking mouth!"

"What!?"

"Just turn him!"

Hands grabbed his motionless body and pushed. Then he could breathe again and the quietness was returning. The two conversing voices getting further and further away.

KxL

It was a very white room, Rose noted, a very white, round, room. The ceiling was probably only about ten feet and had globes of light hanging on short wire. Curtains separated each bed against the walls. There was five beds occupying the room, but Lavi was the only one of three patients in residence.

It would all be perfect if Rose's charge wasn't sweating up a storm and puking for the gold. She had been warned about this, how only seventy percent of all the chosen made it to the Gate and half of those got some kind of disease that killed most of them. But there was a difference here.

Lavi was her charge. Which meant he was definitely going to get better and then become the best student this academy had ever seen!

…

Okay, maybe that was a little farfetched, but Lavi seemed very smart. At least, that was the impression she garnered from the short time she had known him.

He wasn't going to be here much longer though if Ms. Rain-stone didn't come soon. Like, right fucking now!

Rose brushed back some of her charges hair from his forehead and kept her hand there. His temperature was just so goddamn high.

Where the hell was the nurse!?

Somebody coughed behind her, but she didn't turn around to check on him, that was some other guides job.

Her charge began to dry heave, she shushed him gently, not that it did anything to comfort him. He was in some sort of coma.

He had seemed fine when he had arrived here; it was almost like she took her eyes off him for a second before he became violently sick. Sometimes life just plain sucked ass.

Lavi's body jerked a few times before he finally managed to calm down and return to his harsh breathing.

_**That's it**_, Rose thought and got up to go find a nurse to heal her charge. If she couldn't find one or she couldn't intimidate one into coming, she'd just get Vinny and make him come here to work some white-belt mojo.

Unless she couldn't find him, then she'd just have to go all bloodhound on him! Or she could just ask Jenna where he was. Rose looked around the almost empty room, there had to be a nurse or two roaming the halls.

She made her way to the door and opened it slowly, poking her head out all she saw were white walls. It was quiet and seemed almost dead. That was very odd. Too odd, in Rose's opinion, where were all the crazy nurses that could scare the crap out of anything that moved.

Her shoes made small squeaking sounds as she walked to the end of the hallway. She rounded the corner and walked right into a steel wall, nose first.

"Shit!"

Hands grabbed her, before she could fall over a male voice(okay, maybe it hadn't been a steel wall) gushed apologies, "Damn, I'm so sorry. Are you okay? I'll fix that right up for you. I'm so sorry."

Rose opened her eyes and twitched her sore appendage a bit. Didn't feel broken, "Mr. Bright-stone?" she mumbled.

The male nurse smiled apologetically, "Yeah, are you okay?"

She nodded and he hesitantly let her go, when Rose remained standing there a noticeable sagging in relief.

"So, did you need anything?" he asked, still eyeing her a bit worriedly. Rose nodded and gestured behind her, "I was actually going to find someone to check on my charge over there. His fever's not going down."

Mr. Bright-stone looked towards the room she indicated and nodded, then went and entered the room. Rose followed.

He began to talk while he checked Lavi over, "I'm sorry there was nobody here, but the principal wanted a quick chat with us. I rushed back as fast as I could."

"It's okay sir. You're here now." Here now and healing my boy, the guide thought when the nurses hand began to glow when it was placed on Lavi's drenched forehead.

"This boy's strong, he'll be okay." The nurse said and this time Rose was the one who sagged. "He'll be out of here in a few days. Why don't you go and rest. I've got everything here."

She did have a study date with her group. "I… I… well I shouldn't-"

"No. go, relax, he'll be fine, kid."

There was only about two minutes of hesitation before she conceded and left.

Lavi would be fine. Mr. Bright-stone said so, Rose ignored the little lump in her stomach telling her otherwise. She began to make her way to Mana's.

KxL

Kanda stared down at Alma, who had his head on the swordsman's lap. The boy had fallen asleep there a minute after getting comfortable. Mana and Jenna sat across from them arguing over something ridiculous and Vinny was staring at Jenna… guy had a problem.

They had returned to the Academy last night after receiving a letter from Mana's girlfriend. Arriving had been uneventful and unlike last year's room assignments Kanda had been lucky; he'd ended up with the room beside the blue-belt.

Rose was late for their study session for the beginning of the new school year tests the professors thought were top secret. She was checking in on her sick charge, for some reason all the nurses were missing.

Luckily, being a guide wasn't mandatory for all students, but only for those interested in a future teaching position.

Mana's voice raised and made him look up curiously, "It doesn't matter Jenna. A Night Crawler would squish a Dreamkiller, they're not impressive strength-wise."

Jenna snorted, "Dreamkillers swarm. Given the chance you don't think-"

"No, I don't think."

"That would explain a lot." Jenna said solemnly.

The argument was pretty much void after that.

Kanda scowled at the ceiling and wondered for the thousandth time if murder could actually be considered illegal here. He means, everybody was almost technically dead(well, almost everybody), so… what would be the harm done?

Rose was taking too damn long.

Then the two girls began to argue who was more idiotic, Vinny(who was looking very depressed that Jenna wasn't the one defending him) or Rose. Wasn't much of a contest in his opinion.

The doorway opened and caught the whole lots' attention. Alma stirred and Kanda began to pet his hair.

"Heya, Yuu-chan!"

Speaking of idiots.

Daisya strode into the room and flopped down beside Vinny. He seemed way too happy.

Three out of five occupants gave cheerful greetings. Something was definitely wrong with these people, Kanda concluded. It wasn't normal how cheerful they all were, the only person he thought it was normal to be this happy was…

The man's brain stopped. No one. There was no one he could remember being this cheerful. Daisya waved a hand in front of his face. "Hello~! Calling Yuu! Hey Yuu, what's wrong?" He glared at the brown-haired man, "Will you stop that annoying sound." He demanded. The thought slipped away, dismissed as unimportant.

At that time, when Daisya was having a one-sided conversation with him and unintentionally and unknowingly, winning the "who's-the-biggest-idiot argument" (at least, in the swordsman's mind), Rose walked in.

"Let us study!" She announced grandly, throwing her arms in the air and holding them there.

Someone threw their text at her and hit her smack in the face, "Hell!"

There was a shocked silence and then, "Oh my god! Rosey!" Jenna cried and rushed to her best friend's side. Mana followed at a more sedate pace, trying to hold back a smile, but failing miserably.

Alma stirred again; Kanda looked down at his friend and shook his knee. The brown-belt opened his eyes and glared up at him, "Mana abused Rose." Kanda stated flatly.

"She what?" Alma cried and shot up to take look for himself, all sleepiness magically gone from his person.

Mana stood over her girlfriends kneeling form, looking worried and guilty but only slightly. Jenna was crouched beside her and watching Vinny heal the welt that was forming on the girls face. There was no blood, but it must've still hurt. That was a pretty heavy text book.

"Mana!" Alma called, "Why'd you abuse Rose?"

Rose gasped and whirled to face the other girl, "What?" she cried.

Mana shrugged helplessly and went down so she was eye level with Rose and hugged her, "Sorry baby."

Kanda sighed and leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes, "Can we study already? We don't have the whole night."

Already it was 9:15, they hadn't even started yet. Should've just begun without her, he thought. Rose agreed and got up; Mana was still mumbling apologies and laughing. Soon they were reading their texts and actually learning something.

KxL

September 21, Monday

A day at All-Elemental Academy started out like any other school day. The students woke up at 6:30 am or earlier, got dressed, brushed their teeth, combed their hair and ate.

Every morning, this had been Alma's routine when he started here. Well, every morning except in the summer when he stayed at his friend Mana's house. Unlike the rest of their group, she had been born here, the world that the great Stone created.

Alma pulled his shirt on and walked to his desk to get his books. He had gotten them the day after he returned, just like the rest of the group. Although, Rose most likely got hers way, way before them. Girl probably read ahead… oh wait, this was Rose he was thinking about.

Classes started at 7:15 sharp, he still had a good twenty minutes, time to go meet up with Yuu.

No sooner did the purple-belt pop into his thoughts that he was smiling stupidly.

Yuu. His Yuu.

Someone he could always count on, always be able to, no matter what happened. No matter what, he would always have Yuu.

Alma took his time walking across the hall and down the stairs to the exit door. There was no need to rush since his friends would be there.

Like all the other days for the last three years he'd been here, the weather was perfect. Students milled about the grass, waiting of the starting bell to ring. The artificial sky overhead shone light down on them.

Alma spotted Yuu first; he was leaning against a tree by the main walkway, relaxed and lost in his own thoughts. He took his time admiring his swordsman from afar. Rose must've been annoying him more than usual because Yuu looked ready to murder her. The girl seemed to be talking about something serious with wild hand gestures amd many facial expressions. Maybe he should intervene before there was any bloodshed…

"Yuu!"

A nasty glare was turned on him, a lesser man would've developed a tumor there and then, but Alma being Alma, didn't. Because Yuu's expression softened (not by much, but enough) a second after he caught sight of him.

"Alma!" Jenna cried and tackled him. The girl only weighed about 120 pounds but with the force of her tackle, they both began to fall. Yuu's hand shot out and latched onto his arm.

"Heya, Jenna!"

Everybody was there and holding their schedules in hand. Jenna let go of him and settled by his side, pulling her schedule out of her pocket. Soon they were comparing. Rose started to despair when she found out her and Mana had none of the same classes, only a similar lunch break. Vinny and Alma had two of the same classes and Jenna just about flipped when she found out Yuu had sparring with her.

"So Rose, where's your newbie?" Vinny inquired.

The guide looked up from Jenna's schedule, "He's still sick. Puking everywhere and hallucinating. Mr. Bright-stone said it'll take about a week to recover."

Alma winced, "I remember the first time I came here. Took me a month to get back on my feet. Literally." Mana patted his arm and Yuu looked at him almost accusingly saying without words something along the lines of "You had what now?"

"You never told me that." Yuu whispered when he moved to lean against the swordsman's shoulder. Alma shrugged, "Didn't seem important. It's over and done. I'm healthy now." He declared cheerfully.

Yuu obviously didn't agree with his reason if the death glare was anything to go by.

Alma was a level C brown-belt; he knew over five hundred spells for plain use and over two hundred specialty spells. He was one of the top fighters in the Academy and could take on a fully mature Night Crawler on his own.

He wouldn't, but he could.

Despite that, he caved under Yuu's glare in two seconds flat.

"Fine," Alma grumbled, "I caught a disease that paralyzed me from the waist down. My skin also rotted away in some places that left scars when they finally healed and I was quarantined for nine days."

It hadn't been that bad, it had hurt like hell and made him wish for death, but it hadn't been that bad.

Yuu put an arm around him. It seemed like it was going to be peaceful, with Rose cuddling Mana and being blue (literally, she turned blue when she was depressed due to a potion gone wrong her first year) and Vinny hanging onto every word Jenna uttered.

Until Yuu added his two cents, "I didn't get sick at all, maybe idiots are just more prone to the diseases from the Before Valley."

The brown-belt gasped outrageously, "Oh, shut up! Yuu, you meanie!" The 'meanie' smirked, "What? I'm only stating the truth."

Yuu continued to tease Alma until the bell rang and they all had to go their separate ways. The fourth-year couldn't help but think though, as Yuu waved farewell to him, that this is what he always wanted. Just him and Yuu, they didn't need anybody else.

It wasn't until halfway through all their classes that they realized Daisya had been missing from their morning meeting.

Daisya, at that time, was sleeping peacefully, body hanging off his bed. His alarm clock having been unplugged the night before by a vengeful Kanda Yuu.

Nobody called him by Yuu-chan, not even Alma.

Ever.

* * *

**Hey! You're done reading it! Yay! Now, I have another job for you, I would very much appreciate it if you would kindly write your opinion in the pretty white box down below and post your review for me. Thank you XD  
**

**Yours truly,  
**

**~Klaanvdia  
**


	4. Chapter Three

**A/N: Hey everybody! I got chapter three here for ya~ and guess what? It's beta'd by the amazing saxon-jesus who I am still recommending you read because her stories are food for the soul(not really, but they're really good and something you can't read just once). She took time out of her busy schedule to fix my grammatical errors for me and she deserves a big round of applause! -throws confetti and cheers-. Okay I hope you enjoy the latest installment of ANLANW. :)**

**Disclaimer: check out the prologue**

* * *

"Rose died in a car crash. The feeling of being crushed by all that metal still haunts her dreams, her sisters' screams in the passenger seat and all of it because of a stupid slushy. Every Thursday, Rose and her sister would go downtown for a slushy in the summer. She had a big family, but Rose and Sarah were especially close. They would get a huge one and share it on the way home. She had just gotten her driver's license, well, learner's permit, and wanted all the practice she could get.

Rose doesn't remember the conversation that caused the slush to fall, if they were laughing, fighting or simply discussing some mundane topic. They were talking and the slushy fell from her sister's hand when she was passing it over. It fell onto her lap and Rose got distracted long enough to miss the red light. It was some huge truck. The impact was like a punch to the head and your world going still for an eternity, before… they began to roll end over end, getting more smashed and bent. Rose was thrown all over the car because by some freak accident her seat belt broke. Sarah was crying and screaming Rose's name.

When they stopped, her world had been red and her sister had her hand in a death grip. Her sister was whispering how she had better not fucking die on her and leaver her all alone. The blood was wiped from her eyes and that's when she had panicked. Rose could smell blood and she had never been so terrified of the smell than she was at that moment, when it was all around her. She didn't hear her sister crying, hardly noticed when she was too tired to move. She never heard Sarah beg the paramedics to get her out first. She didn't' know they tried only three minutes to bring her back to life and she didn't know when the doctor said, 'I'm sorry.' Her sister's world fell apart."

~Mana

September 27, Sunday

Lavi was feeling much better when he woke up Sunday morning in his own room. The air wasn't so musty anymore and light shown happily through the open curtain and fresh air claimed every inch of the now clean room. At first, Lavi thought he was alone in the room, but then he noticed Rose sitting beside his bed scribbling away on some pad and looking like a scholar that he wouldn't have taken her for. He was a bit sore, but not so much that he couldn't move. To test it, he lifted his arm off the mattress and turned it around in front of his face.

That worked.

It also caught his guide's attention.

Rose looked from her report on the unusual weather patterns of the world they would be living in for a few years, after they graduated and found a mentor to sponsor them. "Lavi! You're awake!" She declared quite happily. The female red head smiled for the first time in days.

He grunted an affirmative and got into a sitting position slowly, trying not to irritate muscles that hadn't seen use in a while, "Yeah, I am. What… Wasn't I in the infirmary?"

She laughed and scratched behind her ear, "Yeah… You were, but I got them to move you back here, because I thought it would be more comforting for you." She placed her paper on the floor.

That made sense, he supposed, but didn't it need to be familiar to him in some way to be comforting? He had only been in here… a few hours maybe before he had to be put in the sick ward. Well, that's what he was guessing. Lavi hardly remembered the time he was sick; the few times he woke up and was aware, it was only for a few minutes, half an hour at the most.

Lavi flexed his toes, "What day is it?"

"Sunday, you were sick for about a week Lavi."

A week? He was sick and bedridden for about a week and he could move this easily? He looked incredulously at her, "You're kidding. I feel like I've only been in bed for about a day or more."

Rose chuckled happily, "Well, the principal came in and worked on you herself. So, you're kind of, well, recovering better than most anyone would be at the moment." She reached over and felt his forehead, "In fact, you will be able to start classes tomorrow."

Lavi nodded, it sounded good, but how well could he really move? He swung his feet off the bed and set them on the floor; he expected his guide to protest, but all she did was move aside and watch him, staying close enough in case he needed help, no doubt. First, he stretched out each leg, one after the other and then took a deep breath. They seemed fine. Lavi leaned forward and pushed himself up, his vision went black for a second and his head did a little spin, but he stayed up and his muscles didn't spasm or protest.

He smiled and took a few experimental steps, this was good.

Rose covered a smile and tried not to let the pride she felt turn her into a 'girl,' and make her do that thing where she smothered Lavi with hugs and proclamations of "I'm so proud of you!"

"Looks like you're doing fine."

He nodded agreement, rubbing his hands over his thighs, they didn't hurt at all. "What am I doing tomorrow," Lavi looked up, "for classes, I mean."

Rose shrugged, "Your schedule's on your desk."

He nodded and looked around the room, the small, stifling room that seemed to be a cage at that very moment.

"Can we go outside?"

It was a reasonable question and one that was unlikely to get shot down.

"Sure, we could, you up for it?"

Lavi scoffed, "Please, I was born ready Rose-chan." He grinned a cheeky grin and moved to get up again.

"You should probably get dressed first though."

"What?"

He looked at himself and saw only a pair of green boxers covering him. I probably should, he thought.

KxL

Outside, everything was pretty much unchanged; the only difference was that everybody he passed seemed more settled. Rose kept close to him, but so far Lavi was doing just fine on walking on his own. Whoever the principal was, she was amazing and would forever have his gratitude for fixing him up. Up ahead, there was a student with spiky brown hair napping under a tree with a thick text book covering his face. There was something eerily familiar about him, but Lavi couldn't place it.

That's when Rose noticed him.

"Hey, that's one of my friends!" She grabbed her charge by the arm and pulled him off the sidewalk towards the slumbering form. Lavi let himself be dragged since there really was nothing else to do.

As they came closer to the sleeping body, something in the back of Lavi's memory tried to crawl its way up. He was having a very bad sense of de ja vu. Rose ran ahead of him and began to poke at the prone body.

Lavi looked over his guides shoulder at the boy; he was very familiar now.

Rose's friend looked up and Lavi got a good, long, look at him and when he finally placed a name with the face, his insides went cold. He opened his mouth, closed it. Two seconds stretched out to a million years, so that they could examine each other carefully and thoroughly. The man didn't seem all that different, only that his clothes weren't a uniform and his brown hair was cut, but still stuck up in spikes. The man wore a regular pair of pants and a long t-shirt; there were no markings under his eyes either. Biggest of all though, was how much lighter he seemed. Not in the physical sense but figuratively speaking; no conflict dominated his eyes, no pain, no sadness. Daisya looked happier.

"Lavi?"

The former Bookman couldn't talk, and then his persona snapped into place.

"D-Daisya?"

Sort of.

Daisya laughed disbelievingly, "Yeah, what… are you doing here?"

Answer was sort of obvious, but Lavi graced it with a response anyway, "I'm here because… because I died."

Why the hell am I stuttering? This isn't how 'Lavi' would act.

"How do you two know each other?" Rose asked quietly.

Lavi didn't spare her a glance even though all he wanted to do was hide behind her and absorb that wonderful cold she always carried.

Daisya nodded.

"Yeah, I was…" here he hesitated, "…in the same club as Lavi."

Seriously? That's your lie? Lavi thought incredulously, staring in disbelief at the sheepish looking man.

Rose scratched the back of her neck, "Oh, wow, this hardly ever happens, you two are so lucky!"

She said it weirdly, like it was second on her mind; but again, Lavi paid her no attention.

Another nod from Daisya.

The man looked at the male red head carefully, "Lavi how… I mean, what was going on over there before you passed on?"

Lavi shrugged, careless, "Everything was… The final meeting." Might as well go with the club thing, Daisya had already started it.

Daisya's eyes widened noticeably, he tried to shake it away as best he could, but his shock was still obvious, "I-I see."

Both of them lapsed back to silence.

"Do you want to get together sometime?"

Lavi thought on it, it couldn't be that bad.

Whatever happened to starting fresh Bookman? A voice mocked. He ignored it.

"Yeah," He turned to his guide, "Let's head back."

It was beginning to get dark and there was hardly anybody about anymore. Those that could be seen were walking away.

"See ya later, Daisya." Rose said

"See ya, Rose."

Daisya looked over at her companion, "See ya, Lavi."

Lavi gave him a two fingered salute and a halfhearted smile.

With the farewells done, the two turned and headed back the way they came. All the way there, Lavi couldn't think clearly. It might've all been too much.

KxL

September 28, Monday

The bell rang loudly, echoing off the stone walls of the school's three buildings. Soon, students of curious origins flooded the halls, hurrying to their lockers to exchange books. Lavi walked alone amongst them all, heading to locker 156, the one he'd been assigned earlier that morning. Rose stood waiting for him beside it, humming and tapping to a song unknown to him and everybody else. As soon as he neared her, he asked, "Why am I taking a class called Meditation 101?"

The day had started out nice enough; Rose had come to walk him to his first class from his dorm. When they arrived Lavi was curious as to why there were mats instead of desks. Black mats large enough to kneel or sit cross-legged on. His teacher's name was Mr. Smoke-stone.

All in all, it was still a good start, but was he generally curious about the class.

Rose smiled at him in greeting "To help us control our powers so they don't go all wacko."

"Powers?" A nod from Rose, "but I have no powers."

Lavi considered for a moment, "Do I?"

It was an absurd idea, how could he have powers? He remembered when Rose had first shown him her green ribbon around her wrist. Yeah it was believable, Lavi decided.

Rose laughed, "Of course you do Lavi." She stopped and opened his locker.

"How do you know my combination?!" He exclaimed.

Rose laughed, "I peeked at your paper when you got it from Ms. Yellow-stone." She continued speaking as if he never interrupted her, "It just takes a while for them to come in. For example," she reached into his locker and pulled out a text, "mine didn't show itself in any way for eight months. I also know a few whose powers waited until their second year to show themselves."

The former Bookman quickly looked down at the title

"Really? Cool" He looked around and saw the halls emptying, "Shouldn't we go?"

"You're right, we should," her locker shut with a loud bang, "You have History with Mr. Seed-stone next, so I'll take you there and pick you up afterwards 'kay?"

"Okie dokie," Lavi's smile slipped a bit, "wait, where are you going?"

Rose ignored the panic in his voice-it was normal, "To my class."

"You're not going to walk me to my next class?"

"You'll be fine, just go down one floor and look for the teachers name on the door." Rose patted his arm before leading towards a flight of stairs, "Don't worry, if you get lost, I'll know."

Lavi nodded and watched her walk away, nervously. He'd be fine, just one floor down and look for his teacher's name on the door.

When he reached his classroom, Mr. Seed-stone was patiently waiting outside the door for him.

"Welcome to my class Mr. Lavi. Please, take a seat." He gestured inside and Lavi was very glad to see that there were desks. No uncomfortable floor for him.

Lavi was a few days late in the year so Mr. Seed-stone gave him a handful of assignments for homework and an order to write a report on his experience in the Before Valley. Not a very cheery person in Lavi's opinion, he reminded the redhead more of Kanda. Lavi ignored the pang of hurt that followed the name.

True to her word, Rose came to pick him up and show him to his next class which was Creatures 101. A little cliché in Lavi's opinion, Rose told him his opinion didn't matter. Lavi told her she was a far too sarcastic guide-in his opinion-Rose hit him.

Lavi didn't have any more opinions.

Unlike Mr. Seed-stone, Mr. Bird-stone actually smiled at the class. Lavi liked him already, it wasn't as boring as Lavi though it would be, and the creatures fascinated him. Especially the parts they were shown from cupboards on the wall.

This new world enthralled him and he couldn't wait to see what else there was to learn.

The need to learn more of this world and the curiosity was just Lavi, not Bookman. Ever since he came here he hadn't felt the cold emotionless part of him that was his Bookman self.

Maybe he was dreaming… although the pain from Rose's hit told a different story. Lavi passed the Night Crawler tongue—it didn't even look like a tongue, more like a tiny mouth with a long neck—to his desk neighbor and grabbed the next one.

Night Crawler eggs.

Maybe he could get permission to stay late and check out the rest of the parts in the cupboards.

KxL

When lunch came, Rose took him to meet her friends, and after that brief meeting he felt like he knew them well enough. But some facts stood out more than others.

One; Rose was obviously very in love with Mana and would rather spend the whole day with her than showing around a newbie like him—that hurt him more than it should've and he had no idea why, Lavi hardly knew the girl.

Two; Vinny was in love with Jenna. One of those hopelessly in love kind of things where all you could ever think about was the person you fell in love with and you already knew the names of your children… and your grandchildren.

Three; Jenna was a crazy-stunt-doing chick that had once bungee jumped off one of the apartment buildings,

Four; Daisya was very good friends with all of them, but seemed more attached to Vinny, they were obviously something like best friends.

Lavi liked them all, especially Rose and Jenna. Jenna was just this crazy chick that he could relate to on some level. He couldn't explain it but he just felt a kindred spirit somewhere. It was very deep down, but it was there. Somewhere.

There was some awkwardness with Daisya there but they attempted some conversation before they both gave it up. What they wanted to talk about they couldn't because of all the others.

A pleasant tingling sounded twice through the yard, surprising Lavi somewhat. What was that?

"Lavi, please make your way to the principal's office."

The tingling gently sounded again.

O-kay, Lavi thought, short and brief. Nice.

"Oh, dear, god." Rose whispered beside him. He looked at her, confused. All she did was shrug, "Don't mind me Lavi. Let's go." She grabbed his arm and began to lead him away, "We can't keep her waiting. That would be a very bad idea."

She waved good-bye to her friends and Lavi did the same. The last one he saw was Daisya's concerned one. What's the big deal? He asked himself. It was just the principal's office.

KxL

"Okay, again, please bow when you go in and don't be nervous because she's just going to explain a few things for you and maybe answer a few of your questions." Rose fussed over Lavi's outfit a bit, straightening a nonexistent wrinkle and blowing away an invisible piece of lint.

The red-head scoffed, "Oh come on Rose, you've been repeating that sentence since they called me." Following her up a set of stairs—didn't they already go up this one?—Lavi brushed her hand away and gave her a reassuring smile. "I don't get what the big deal is; she's just going to explain a few things to me, right?" Rose nodded, "Then I'll just sit quietly and let her explain them and then I'll be out and you can drop me off at my dorm room and go spend time with Mana-chan, 'kay?"

Mentioning Mana was a good move because Lavi instantly felt her relax a little at the mention of her favorite person. But then she tensed again when she remembered his words, "Big Deal?" Grabbing his face and pulling him close, Rose shout-whispered, "The big deal is this woman could have you black-listed from the Army Academy or any other Academy after this. She is the granddaughter of one of the Chairman, dammit! Lavi, I demand you make a good impression on her."

He nodded obligingly and waited while Rose talked to a woman at a desk. Looking around, he took in how bright the room was. Unlike the Order, it wasn't depressing dark hallways, scary rooms with weird experiments gone wrong and creepy noises in the middle of the night. Instead, there were quiet, bright hallways, tidy rooms (that he immediately found his wardrobe in, oh yeah he had a lot of questions about that) and pure, blessed silence.

Lavi clenched his teeth and tried to fight the pain that came along with thoughts of the Order.

Rose came and stopped his thoughts before he could get himself depressed—she always came at the right time—and motioned him through a door.

"Don't make an idiot of yourself because then you'll make me look bad too."

She was a guide again… why?

Lavi didn't just walk in to a different room; he walked into a different atmosphere, dimension, whatever you want to call it, but it was most definitely someplace different.

We are not in Houston anymore…

The room was huge and filled with pictures of children and family. The walls were white—were they glowing?!—with some works of art. There were two cushioned chairs in front of a desk that a chuckling lady was sitting behind…Holy-she's beautiful.

"I've seen over 200 new students since I've started working here and I still can't get over the crazy faces that they make when they first come in here." There were more chuckles and Lavi found himself smiling widely at the woman; why was Rose worried about this woman? She was great!

"Please take a seat Lavi and we'll begin."

Nodding, he took a seat and looked around the room again but was soon looking at the principal once more.

"Now, I would like to begin with the rules…"

KxL

Much later, after the last bell had rung for the end of the school day and everybody was in their rooms or somewhere else relaxing, Lavi came out thoroughly confused, and to an anxious Rose. She greeted him with a barrage of questions.

"Well, what happened? Did you behave? You didn't do anything stupid did you? I thought I told you that your behavior would mostly fall on me if you-"

Lavi quickly shut up her questions by covering her mouth, "She told me what I needed to know, the rules, expectations and all that jazz. Of course I behaved; I was in too much awe to do anything else. I guess I was stupid with my mouth hanging open like that. You are one selfish guide you know that?"

Rose licked his hand and Lavi pulled it away with a squeal of disgust, "Yes, I know I'm a selfish guide, but I told you, your opinion doesn't matter. Mana loves me for who I am." Lavi wiped his hand on his shirt.

Grumbling, he motioned for her to lead the way out—not that he didn't already know it, but still.

Rose kept quiet for the rest of the way over to Lavi's building, letting him walk into his room without any annoying questions.

But she did follow him inside his room and make herself comfortable on his bed.

"Okay Rose-chan, not that I'm not glad you're here," he wasn't, "but I'm really tired so, could you…" Lavi hesitated. He didn't want to be rude; she was his guide after all and he felt a weird sort of connection to her.

"I need to know what's wrong with you first." Lavi made a questioning noise. "I know something's bothering you." She took a deep breath, "As hard as it is to believe guides are not chosen randomly Lavi, I was chosen because I have an uncanny ability to calm people down." Lavi nodded, makes sense.

"I'm the reason you haven't been panicking about this whole thing, plus the added bonus that you yourself adjust well to things."

Lavi looked at her in surprise, "Really?"

Rose nodded.

Lavi went into a kind of silence that made Rose nervous and was about to reach out to calm him—just in case. She didn't deal well with freaking out, which was why she was deliberately holding off helping Lavi deal with his past.

Then he went off.

"That is so cool! I didn't know you guys could do that, I mean you're a green-belt. I thought that kind of ability would go with a white-belt."

"It normally would, but I've had this ability for-"

"No wonder I feel calmer with you around. Do other guides have this ability?"

Rose shook her head and prepared herself to answer a bunch of questions.

Just her luck, she had to get a Bookman to show around. Not that she was complaining now that the connection was building between them it would hurt when his powers came in and she would be disconnected from him. She had gotten a few tips from Mr. Smoke-stone about how to handle that situation.

Then she remembered she had to go and meet Mana for their 'alone time' and was racing out the door waving good-bye to the very disappointed and put out Lavi.

I have more questions though...Lavi inwardly whined.

Looking around the apartment, he wondered what to do next… maybe he could go and wander around campus; then again, it had been dark while they were coming back; he still couldn't believe he was in there for that long. He wasn't going anywhere.

A wave of dizziness came and went, but Lavi paid no mind to it—an after effect of the stupid weekend.

Maybe he could contemplate that ultimate prank thing and come up with a few ideas to show Jenna. Rose would probably hit him again, but it was fun riling her up like a certain swordsman he used to know.

KxL

Chase walked down the quiet walk-way deep in thought. He had come out here after his roommate had suddenly broken into sobs and passed out. Then her guide had come, telling Chase to leave, he would take care of her. Sebastian hadn't looked any better leaning against the door-way. Then Clary had started calling for him and Chase had left. He had heard a whispered, "It's okay Clary, I got ya luv."

Then he went outside, sometimes running into a frantic guide going to their charges room. He had no idea what was going on but it didn't' involve him so he was out.

His thoughts started to go to his death; he had died from a gun-shot.

A little laugh escaped him, who would have thought an average student would die in a drive-by shooting, rather depressing, really.

At least Brody's okay Chase thought with a small smile. Hopefully, Cristy and his family had taken the news well about him and hadn't broken down. His mom would be devastated, but his dad would take care of her. Jack would have to make sure the twins were okay too; after all he was the big brother now.

Rubbing at the phantom pain on his side, he looked up at the dome. It was... pretty.

I am turning gay, Chase twitched. Damn, Samantha was right.

Okay, time to get the facts straight. Giving himself a shake, Chase settled down at a tree and rubbed his hands over his then counted the facts off his fingers.

One; he was chosen to come to this world and be trained to destroy all these creatures in another world.

Two; there were other worldly creatures.

Three; he was deeply fascinated to learn more about these creatures.

Four; the reason he was so deeply fascinated with these creatures was because he was a Brown-belt.

Five... he didn't have a five.

Maybe this wasn't as complicated as he first thought. Especially if Chastity was there to explain everything. She made everything easier.

A branch broke and fell on his head.

What the heck? Chase rubbed his head and looked up.

A black shadow fell onto his head and silenced his scream.

KxL

Three glowing globes illuminated a table, the rest of the room covered by blackness. A voice penetrated the darkness. "Chairman, we should send the students home."

There was a small sigh, "I'm not disagreeing Blue-stone, but where will the students originally from earth go to?"

"They could stay with their guides." Clearly the person had not thought this through,(;) it was a hastily made plan.

"Don't be absurd, the guides are but students themselves." The exasperation was clear, as was the opinion behind it; it was a stupid idea.

"What other choice is there Chairman? A Dream Killer infiltrated the school." Anger, an unseen pair of eyes blinked; Blue-stone never got angry. A new voice broke through, it was clear and strong. "Infiltrated? Didn't know you were so smart Blue."

"Shut up Red-stone." Was the sharp reply, the tone cutting compared to its humorous counterpart.

A bored voice cut any future argument, "It was immediately disposed of by a teacher Blue-stone, was it not?"

"Well, yes it was White-stone but-"

"Then there is no need to raise a panic. I say we keep the students in the Academy, but keep the teacher's on high alert."

"But who is to say another will not come and more afterwards?" A fist hit the table in agitation, "Chairman, please evacuate the school."

"Blue-stone, you know White-stone is correct." The Chairman's voice took on a quality of a parent reasoning with a child. "The Academy has been the epitome of safety for centuries, if we were to suddenly evacuate the school it would cause unwanted panic. You forget the vulnerable state we are in, may I remind you what had just recently happened with the new arrivals this year."

The body tensed at the unspoken insult, "I remember perfectly well the state we are in Chairman-"

"Then quit your senseless arguing and see the logic behind this decision!" A sharp reprimand.

"I could put General Arrow-stone's squad around the Academy borders. They will be safe." The voice that had originally been teasing was now comforting and filled with worry for a friend.

"Red-stone…" Helplessness rang clear, a feeling no member was used to and certainly did not enjoy.

"Blue-stone, we all want the student's safe, but taking them out of the Academy will only make them more vulnerable."

Sharp eyes turned to another hidden figure, annoyance clear in the reply, "Who's to say they are not already vulnerable Purple-stone?!"

"We can't."

"Green-stone, you agree with me don't you?"

"Blue-stone…" The hesitation sent the rest of the members hope plummeting. "I must agree with White-stone."

"What? No! Chairman, please!"

"Calm yourself, Blue-stone. It is already decided and will be as White-stone suggested. The students will stay in the Academy, teachers will be warned to stay alert of future attacks and Arrow-stone's men will be stationed around the grounds. The students will be safe so cease your worries. Meeting Adjourned!" A loud bang.

* * *

**Hope you all enjoyed and plan on tuning in next time for chapter four! So, if you would all just do me a good and type out what you thought of this chapter in the pretty white box down below, you all will be greatly rewarded!(with cookies! yay!)**  
**So happy reading to you all!  
**

**Truly yours,  
**

**~Klaanvdia  
**


	5. Chapter Four

**A/N: This chapter was beta'd by saxon-jesus, a fellow author of D-Gray Man fanfiction and busy adult who takes time out of her schedule to fix my grammatical errors and offer advice when it is needed. She is amazing and I'm glad to have her. Anyways peoples I'm so happy I finally got this out; it's my first posting for 2013! Hopefully my second will come soon. Hope you enjoy this chapter, it's short but important to the story. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: check out prologue**

* * *

When Kanda first came to the Academy his guide had been a woman named Chastity, she was a blue-belt and a fifth year at that time. Unlike most new students, Kanda hadn't been as attached to his because he had gotten his powers earlier than most first years were due to. The guide is only supposed to stay with their charges until they receive their powers. Needless to say, he hadn't had his guide for long.

After he received his powers, his guide hadn't stayed for long and had graduated early taking on an apprenticeship under a well-known baker in one of the major cities. Two weeks later, he met Rose and the gang, and it opened an old wound that he had closed long ago, allowing it to heal. They filled the void Chastity left behind, but he would commit suicide before he even gave them a hint of such.

The point being? The point being was they were his family, the family Chastity wasn't to Kanda.

September 29, 2009

The alarm clock blared awake letting out an annoying bone-rattling screech. It rang out, echoing in the plain room causing the lone occupant to stir awake. Yes, stir, not jump out of bed and grab a hammer hell bent on murdering the clock. A hand came out and hit the top of the clock and it flattened with a loud, crunch!

Kanda Yuu sat up and swung his legs over the side of his bed, lifting his hand off the ruined mess that was once his personal electronic mocking bird. The purple barrier that had formed around his fist faded away and he stared groggily at his wall. He needed a new clock.

He opened the drawer beside his bed and took out another clock—courtesy of Rose—and swiped the ruined mess of the 'one that was' into the garbage bin. He got up off the bed and padded out of his room to wash up.

It was earlier than he usually got up, but that was because he had to meet Mr. Smoke-stone for a personal meditation session. Something that required him to get up two hours earlier than everybody else and walk out into the cold (not that it was really cold, but it wasn't as warm as it was during the day) early morning air. These personal sessions had started in the last months of the previous year. Rose had been pulling one of her usual stunts and gone too far for Kanda's liking and he had lost it. Meaning that the swordsman had unintentionally awakened his Spirit Animal and hell had almost broken loose and killed the annoying red head. Luckily, the principal had been there and intervened before any blood could be spilt.

As the water ran down his body, he closed his eyes enjoying a moment of peace. The man had far more of them in this world than he had in the last, in fact right now the world was probably under the Earls control. That is if the Moyashi hadn't succeeded, the kid had most likely won though, he had been annoying like that.

He swiped the water out of his eyes and the memories out of his mind, Kanda had to get to the school and… do whatever the teacher had in mind.

The shower was shut off and he climbed out grabbing the towel on the rack he wrapped it around himself. Another towel was used to dry his hair.

He stepped out of the bathroom and back into his room to grab some clothes, a few minutes later and Kanda stood ready, he wore black sweatpants and a shirt that hugged his muscles, also black. Slipping on his shoes he shut off the lights and locked the door, walking out of the building.

The student building that Mana, Rose, Vinny and he stayed in was to the right of the main school structures. It was over twenty stories high and twenty rooms on each floor. Each of the housing buildings was like this one. The school building had maybe well over 200 rooms, Kanda never counted them. Five stories high, only the basement, first, second and fifth were used these days.

Last year all the floors had been used and there were a lot more students, most of them came on the morning portal from their homes in the world that was created after Earth by Stone. But lately none of the 'purebloods' were attending the academy; nobody knew why and if the teachers knew (who was he kidding, of course they knew), they weren't telling.

Kanda wondered idly if he was going to be doing the candle exercise again today. He almost had that one mastered

KxL

"Lavi!"

Lavi looked up from his writing to acknowledge his third period teacher, Mr. Bird-stone. "Yeah?" he asked, smiling hugely. The man had a loud voice; it wasn't annoying though, instead it was almost comforting. Mr. Bird-stone was one of those people that looked like they had a voice that was soft and quiet, but had one that was deep and could be heard across battlefields. It was funny, but the students loved him. He was half the reason why Creatures 101 was Lavi's favorite class.

"Lavi?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Lavi gave his teacher his full attention.

"Please give me a quick description of your thoughts of the Creature's origins."

Taking a moment to think and organize, the red head glanced down at his wrist where a braided bracelet resided. Rose had given it to him the day before, in the morning.

"I braided it during War History and had Vinny charm it for peace." She had told him. Charms were very difficult for her and Jenna she had continued to explain, but easy as pie for her girlfriend and Vinny. Something to do with their attitudes.

Playing with it now, he looked back at the teacher, "I'm thinking they would have come into being the same way as everything else. They evolved from single celled organism." he paused. "Or they mutated from other normal creatures, like a dog, and are just freak accidents that should've never really happened."

His partner, who was a complete slacker, gave him a bored look. Mr. Bird-stone smiled, "If I had a copper head for every time a student gave that answer Lavi, I'd be rich man."

"Didn't know you were that old Mr. Bird-stone."

"I'm old enough Shira, you lose track after a few centuries."

The laughter that had started at Shira's statement dissolved and Mr. Bird-stone went back to his lecture.

"But you'll learn more about our aging in Biology—or some other science. Lavi your first answer was understandable as was the second, but you're wrong on both accounts."

He frowned; wrong? How else could they have come into existence?

"I can see you're all confused, but don't worry, you'll understand soon enough. I'm going to conduct a small experiment. Please write down your observations."

Lavi flipped to a new page of his notebook and watched on as their teacher went to the cupboard and brought out a claw, or a piece of one. On the table that Mr. Bird-stone had set up earlier when everybody was just walking in, there was a carved circle inside a bigger circle. He placed the jar in the center of them and grabbed a needle that had to be 12 inches long and gently blew on it.

It glowed briefly before returning to its original color.

Lavi's hand twitched, he wanted to ask what it was; unfortunately they weren't allowed to ask questions during the experiment.

Mr. Bird-stone began to write symbols in between the circles. Like the pen/needle thing, the symbols glowed briefly before fading and settling into the wood.

"You'll learn the symbols for these kinds of spells next semester with Ms. Soft-stone—or is it Ms. Lily-stone… No matter." A few snickers, "I just want your observations."

He stepped back and snapped his fingers.

The symbols began to glow again and the liquid in the jar began to bubble. Lavi watched with rapt attention as the water began to boil more. The claw started to take on a lighter color, and then it started to shake slightly, jerking back and forth.

No noise could be heard. Everyone was transfixed by the action that was taking place in front of the classroom. Then suddenly, everything stilled; the glowing stopped, the boiling water ceased and the claw was still.

Lavi leaned forward in his chair; was that it? That's all that was going to happen? Something must've gone wrong. Just as he raised his hand to ask, the light came back and shone so bright it blinded him.

Shocked gasps came from almost every student and a few jerked out of their seats—Lavi heard them fall down. The light disappeared and slowly, breathlessly, he looked back to the front of the room. What he saw made him catch his breath.

"Ho-ly God."

You said it, he thought.

KxL

"He summoned the Dream Killer out of thin air and dear god, Rose, it was so cool! I couldn't believe how freaky it was. It looked like an overgrown worm, except this thing had teeth and claws and these beady eyes that looked at you with such intensity that I was scared shitless. Mr. Bird-stone invited the whole class up front to see it—I actually thought it was going to attack us for a sec, but he explained that it couldn't because of some force field that was activated by the outside ring of his summoning circle—and it smelled so horrible. I mean seriously, as soon as I got close to it, my arm hairs stood up and a chill went up, down and through my back." Lavi took a breath and tried for the thousandth time to wipe the smile off his face, "It was so damn cool Rose-chan."

Rose smiled patiently and kept quiet for a second longer, just to make sure that he was actually finished, before replying.

"Well, I can't say that that isn't the normal feeling, because I felt the exact same way when he pulled that experiment in my first year here."

Lavi laughed and looked out at the yard. They were having lunch outside, under a tree close to the schools entrance. Rose had come to get him as soon as third period had ended and brought him out here to enjoy the food she'd gotten for both of them at the cafeteria. No lunch with her group of friends today, and that was completely fine with Lavi, for some reason he felt inexplicably possessive of his guide. It was a new feeling. Something he didn't know quite how to handle. So he ignored it and went on with the new life he had.

"I can't wait to go back tomorrow and see how a Night Crawler looks."

Rose laughed, "Your enthusiasm is amazing Lavi. I wasn't like you when I first came here. None of us were, I bet."

Lavi made a curious noise, "What were you like when you first came here Rose-chan?"

She stopped chewing and looked up and away, "Sad, mostly," Lavi looked down, his guide's tone had changed, it was thoughtful now, "I didn't really want to be here, honestly." She smiled, "But luckily I was because I found my Mana and got you."

Lavi waved his hand embarrassingly "Aw, shucks Rose-chan you make me blush."

She laughed and shook her head, "Finish eating boy."

Smiling widely now, Lavi obeyed.

The rest of the break passed in no time and soon enough, Rose was taking him to her friends' hangout. Two of them would be absent though, she explained, they had something else going on. She didn't know. Lavi didn't care about them, all he really wanted to do was catch up with Daisya and talk to him more. Any connection to his old life was a good one and one that had to kept, in Lavi's opinion.

KxL

Kanda looked up at the fake sky that the dome created and scrunched up his nose. His fellow students walked past him out the front doors of the school, chatting to each other about nothing important to him. It was kind of cold, which was odd, because it was never cold in here. He paid it hardly any attention and continued his way down the steps.

Maybe he would hang out with Mana and them for a while before he did his homework and then crashed for the night. He had hardly seen them these last few days, so caught up in his new classes that he'd been. Alma, he had missed the most though.

Speaking of which, he'd better go find him if he was going to hang out with the group. It was good for his friend to have contact with other people besides Kanda himself. Alma wouldn't hang out with anybody else if Kanda wasn't along, something that the black haired man saw nothing wrong with because he didn't much like hanging out with the rest if his friend wasn't there beside him.

Kanda found Alma in his dorm room, reading a book that was thicker than their textbooks, "How you can read that I will never know."

Alma looked up in surprise, he smiled when he saw who it was that had interrupted, "I'll never get how you can do those sword exercises for hours on end either, but you don't see me complaining now do you?"

Kanda snorted, "Whatever," He gestured for the other to come closer, "come on, let's go see what everybody else is doing."

Alma hugged him quickly and nodded his agreement.

"They're probably slacking like you are right now, Yuu."

He didn't grace Alma's statement with a response, it didn't deserve one.

They headed out for Rose's dorm.

The stairs up seemed to take forever, but eventually they did get there and they did find their group of friends. Friends that had forced themselves into their lives, but friends nonetheless.

Alma squeezed his hand and immediately headed over to Mana, giving a happy sound. Everybody was getting up and greeting their friend, they all looked happy and pleasantly surprised at their new arrivals. Though, there seemed to be an extra head. Kanda frowned and kept back, wary of this new face.

Rose spoke up, "You guys! I'm so glad you're here, I want to introduce you to my charge!"

Daisya looked kind of sick actually. He wouldn't look Kanda in the eye and seemed to be going to a lot of trouble to make himself look very small.

"He's super smart and you'll love him!"

"Aw shucks Rose-chan you're making me blush."

Kanda's blood ran cold. He knew that voice; he knew it like the back of his hand. He froze in place and a rushing sound began to invade his ears. He couldn't hear what else Rose was spouting, except his attention was fixed on where that voice had come from. Alma was in front of the stranger, blocking his view. Most likely shaking his hand and giving him a warm welcome.

Please no, he begged, anyone but him. Please not let it be-

Alma moved and the sitting figure stood up and looked straight at him.

Green eyes widened to three times their normal size and the face paled.

Kanda tried to remember how to breathe and tried to get something out his throat. Some words maybe, but instead of the yelling he wanted to so badly do, one small, scared word came out instead.

"Lavi?"

Inside his heart, he felt something break. Again.

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**Hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for the next installment of ANLANW, not coming that soon to a website near you! If you all would be so kind as to leave a comment in the white box down below telling me your thoughts on the chapter/story, I'd mighty appreciate it. Happy Reading everybody! Happy 2013!  
**

**Yours truly,  
**

**~Klaanvdia  
**


	6. Chapter Five

**A/N: Hey guys! No I'm not dead, where did you get that idea? Lol, hey everybody, I know it's been a long time since I've posted and I have no excuse, all I can say is I am so sorry. But this month I was determined to write this chapter and give it to you as your present. Merry Christmas guys! I hope you enjoy it! :)**

**Dislcaimer - check out the prologue**

* * *

Alma, along with almost 15% of the school's first years and 21% of the school's population, was very thankful that he was here. His old life he hadn't liked one bit, he mostly remembered all the blood and the screams of the victims, whose faces he couldn't quite remember. The first face that had stood out in his memory when he had come here was Yuu's, his best friend. After that had come back, Alma had actually spent a good three days going through the entire student body registration, questioning other student and faculty looking for any trace of his friend. None had been found. His first and second year went by, then the next year had come and with it, a familiar black-haired swordsman and with him a few other memories. Like the Order and the faces of scientists who he deemed responsible for his pain. The only other face that really stood out like his Yuu's had, was Allen Walker. No other exorcist's could be remembered, neither their names nor their faces. He didn't want to remember them and he never wanted to see them.

He was happy how he was, with his small group of friends and his Yuu.

KxL

Kanda stood still as he stared at the person in front of him. His face gave away none of his feelings; he was calm and collected on the outside. Inside though, he was in a turmoil of emotions. Anger, sadness, joy were all pushing at him to express themselves.

Lavi's mouth was slack in disbelief and his eyes were wide open. Unlike Kanda though Lavi knew what to feel. A wide smile spread across Lavi's face and he leaped forward, "Yuu-chan!" Lavi momentum carried him all the way into Kanda's arms and held him with an anaconda's strength, hugging the life out of him (or trying to, it seemed). Kanda stiffened at the physical contact, standing stock-still, refusing to hug the red head back. Lavi wasn't supposed to be here, he was supposed to be at the Order with Lenalee and Moyashi and all the others, **alive.**

Not here… dead.

Lavi was babbling away in his ear, not seeming to care whether he was paying attention or not and he guessed that was a good thing because he wasn't hearing a word Lavi said. Instead he was trying not to panic and staring at the shocked expression on Alma's face and then the dawning realization. The wounded expression on his friends face tore at his already shattering heart.

It was all happening too fast, Lavi being here and Alma pulling away from him, it was all happening too fast. Everybody else in his group, Rose, Mana, Jenna, Vinny and Daisya, they were all gone and all he felt and saw was Lavi and Alma. Then Alma was walking towards him and past him and away from him. Every one of the emotions fighting inside abruptly stopped and he felt nothing. The world fell away for just a second.

Alma had left.

Then everything came rushing back and he was aware of his friends staring at him and Lavi hugging him with an unbreakable grip. Then Kanda began to hear exactly what Lavi was saying. "I can't believe you're here Yuu-chan. You're supposed to be dead, well I guess we're all dead, but I like cried and cried…" It didn't make any real sense, the red head was jumping from one thing to another in one sentence.

Alma, have to get to Alma, he thought. Some part of him, one that he had buried deep under a thousand pounds of rubble told him to stay with Lavi, they wanted Lavi. But he ignored it and lifted his arms to pry the Bookman—former bookman?—off him and rush after his friend.

"Lavi."

"I can't believe you're here, I mean Daisya's here and I thought for a second that you might be here too, but I never really believed it."

"Lavi."

"It's so weird because we're all dead and yet we're all alive and that means you're dead and I'm dead and their dead and…"

"Lavi!"

"It just doesn't seem real…"

Kanda gripped the red heads arms and jerked them from around his neck, "Lavi let me go!" the arms came loose and he pulled away from the other to turn and race out the door.

His heart began to ache, all the broken pieces were scattered about and he couldn't figure out if it was because of the man in the room he just left behind or because of the one he was racing after.

KxL

Lavi watched numbly as Yuu left, racing after Alma. His arms were frozen in the air where they had remained after Yuu had pushed away. His persona almost faltered, but he had too much practice keeping it in place, so it only twitched down before he restored his good cheer and spun on his heel to face the group. Rose put her hand on his shoulder, Lavi looked at his guide, his smile widened.

"I didn't know you knew Kanda, Lavi."

He didn't answer, there was no need to answer such an obvious statement. He looked at Daisya out of the corner of his eye; a small ball of resentment tried to settle in the middle of his chest. The spiky haired student looked back at him guiltily, "Lavi I…"

"I'm tired." Lavi cut him off cheerfully. "I need to rest, quite tired you know. He didn't give them any time to respond before he walked out of the room and didn't stop until he was down the stairs and out of the building. He had seen Yuu. Yuu had been right in front of him. Yuu had been in his arms. Yuu had left him to go after Alma.

Alma.

Now there was a plot twist he hadn't been expecting. Lavi had heard about the boy from the other exorcists after he'd arrived with other reinforcements to find Yuu gone and the Earl trying to get that one third exorcist to kill Allen and all the scientists.

I can't believe I hadn't burst out crying, he thought distantly.

There had been nothing Lavi could've done to control it though. One second he was shaking hands with Alma—who turned out to be Yuu's Alma—and the next he'd seen and heard Yuu.

It was either break down or retreat behind good cheer and become the bookman-in-training-hiding-behind-a-persona again. It hadn't been that hard a choice to make.

Soon enough he was in front of his door walking into his dorm. He looked around, not sure what he was looking for, but feeling lost and like he'd never find his way home if he didn't find It.

What was he going to do?

KxL

Rose stood there, hand slowly lowering from where it had originally reside on her first-years shoulder.

"Uh…" Jenna stuttered though the words a moment before she managed to make them into a coherent sentence. "Um… what just happened?"

Daisya sat hunched in the corner of the couch. Guilt settled in his gut, taking root and refusing to let him be for not even a moment and forcing him to listen to one thought circulate though his head. I should've told Kanda, I should've told Kanda, I should've told Kanda…

The ex-exorcist had known that Alma had an issue about the exorcists in the Order, in fact the Order in general. In fact, there was no reasonable excuse for him not to have known that because Kanda had told him exactly that when the swordsman had pulled hi m aside to ask him to keep their past a secret.

This was going to be one big mess, Daisya just knew it. There was no way that this whole situation was ever going to be resolved in a clean and moderate way.

KxL

Kanda stayed close behind Alma as he followed the young man out into the training fields towards the forest. He hadn't tried to talk to him, not yet, something about the set of his shoulders, his aura, the air around him, was warning everybody off. Usually Kanda would let him cool off and come and find him when they would be able to have a clear-minded conversation. But seeing Lavi again… after all this time, Kanda was shaken to his core and he needed support and the only one he trusted for that Alma.

Problem with that was that he wouldn't be getting it from Alma, he would have to find a way to preserve them. No matter how much he… he had to stick with Alma, Alma was his friend.

Kanda tried to hold onto the vestige of anger he had felt and make it push away the panic that was trying to set up shop.

Alma stopped.

Kanda jerked to a halt a few feet away from him. Alma stood with his back straight, tense muscles quivering so bad the swordsman could see them move. He could do nothing but wait for the man in front of him to talk. For several moments Kanda only heard his own breathing, the slow in and out of air as it helped to keep the brain functioning.

"You know him." It was said as a statement, something already known that needed no confirmation.

Kanda glared at Alma's back, this was not something he wanted to talk about. What he wanted was to forget that Lavi came here—the sharp pang to his heart went ignored—and just go back to it being them. Alma turned and stared at him, holding his gaze captive. He clenched his jaw.

"I had no clue he was here."

The scoff made Kanda clench his fists and take a step forward with the force of his next words. "It's true!" he willed Alma to believe him, to hear the truth, "I was just as surprised as you when I saw him."

Alma looked away, his eyes were glassy and it caused distress to slip through Kanda's shields.

"How?" It was said quietly and Kanda didn't fully understand, but at the same time he did. He was just too afraid to answer in case he was wrong.

"How do you know him?!" Alma yelled, suddenly angry.

Kanda just barely stopped himself from flinching and he was about to answer, but it was too long a lag for Alma. The hurt man turned and began to walk away.

Panic squeezed Kanda's chest in a vise grip and his next words were yelled and rushed. "We were in the Order together!"

Alma halted mid-step, so obviously ready to bolt any second it made Kanda freeze where he was—one hand reaching out, muscles clenched and ready to run after Alma—lest he scare the other away.

"The Order?" Alma said.

Kanda nodded, remembered a second later Alma had his back to him and spoke, "Yes."

Alma nodded, and that was all for discussing **that** place. Neither had good memories or feelings about it. Except for one… but that Kanda had locked away in his heart and was something he would never allow Alma to see.

Kanda cautiously took a step towards Alma, "What is he to you?" The question stopped him and this time he answered quicker than the last.

"Nothing." He said firmly.

Alma clenched his fist and Kanda could tell the anger was back, "You don't hug someone who means nothing to you like that."

"He hugged me, I didn't hug back. I came right after you." Kanda said firmly, again ignoring a pain in his heart that seemed to be permanent, "Bookman hugged everybody. It was part of his persona." The last part was said bitterly, no need to lie whatsoever, because it **was** something to be hated.

Alma looked at Kanda, turning his body ever so slightly and then turned back fast.

"He's no threat." Kanda said.

The response was instant, Alma turned around and spat the words, "I never said he was a threat!"

Kanda moved closer, "I didn't want him to come here."

Alma looked down, his eyes were narrowed, like you do when you're trying to stop yourself from crying, "Yeah?"

Another stop closer. "Yeah."

Alma took a deep breath, collecting himself. He looked at Kanda, eyes steel, "I don't want you hanging out with him."

"I won't." Kanda breathed deeply and evenly, reminding himself it was necessary even though his heart seemed to want to stop.

Alma nodded, a little bit of tension seeming to leave him. He covered his eyes with his left hand. Kanda moved a little bit closer, confidence slowly beginning to return. Only to be brutally cut down with Alma's next words.

"Now leave me alone."

Kanda's eyes widened, "What? But…" he trailed off as Alma turned and began to walk away. His question was rushed, "Will I see you back at the dorm?"

Alma stopped, but quickly began to walk again, "Just leave me alone." Then he disappeared into the thick forest of the training grounds.

Kanda was left alone with a deep sense of loss and knowing that most of the words he'd spoken had been a lie.

KxL

Alma walked for a long time; he walked until he reached the wall that was made to protect their school grounds from the unknown. He settled against a tree and allowed himself to slide down so his butt rested on the ground. It was soft and cold and nothing like unwelcoming stone floors.

The light that shone from the top of their dome was receding, allowing darkness to hide its brightness.

Alma wiped away the trace of tears that had been trying to fall for a while.

Lavi.

Alma laughed without sound or humor.

This was some sick joke. It had to be.

This was the happiest Alma could ever remember being. He had **friends**! A group of people who cared about him and adults who didn't think of him as an experiment. Something to be cared for, not tested or poked and prodded.

All of it was his and best of all, something he thought would never happen, had happened. He had Yuu back.

He couldn't take any chances with losing. Whether it be to danger or someone from the past.

Something rustled behind him.

Alma's breath caught and instinctively he gathered power for a spell.

The rustle came again.

He jerked away from the tree and swung around in a defensive posture.

"Hello?" he called out, "Is anybody there?"

It made no sense. His instincts were screaming "Danger!" but this was the academy. A place that the teachers always said was the safest place you could ever be. So why was he on the defense?

"Yuu?"

Alma waited for a while, but no more rustling came from anywhere.

Slowly, still wary of whatever that might have been, Alma relaxed his muscles and let his power recede.

It was probably nothing.

He looked up. It was getting real dark. Alma sighed, he should head back now.

Alma turned to head back to the dorm. It was right then something jumped out at him and latched onto his head.

KxL

He didn't remember the walk back to his apartment, nor did he remember how he got the door locked. One minute he was in the building's lounge, the next he was sitting on his couch and staring blankly at the wall.

He was just so tired and feeling lost and like he really wasn't attached to his body.

What had just… That had been… but what had happened afterwards…

Bookmen did not take sides. What they did, they did for the sake of their records.

He wasn't a Bookman anymore though.

Not that he acted very much like one towards the end. It was only after…

Lavi gulped.

He wasn't a Bookman anymore.

That idea was going to take a while to get used to.

He was allowed to be just Lavi.

The guy who loved Yuu Kanda…

Tears were falling unnoticed, wetting his cheeks.

Yuu was here, whole and safe. So was Daisya. It was almost too much to take in. Out of all the people that had had died in the world, three who knew each other got to be Chosen.

Rose had explained this all to him.

People who died on Earth were Chosen based on their strength of character and their energy levels. And it was very unlikely that someone who knew someone who had already been Chosen would be chosen also. That part was done purposely. Then there were the 'purebloods' the ones that had been born in the world they were all being trained to protect.

Daisya, Yuu and Lavi all being chosen must've been some kind of fluke. A mistake.

Yuu was here.

The tears were blurring Lavi's vision now. Yuu was here and Lavi had hugged him, actually held Yuu in his arms. Then had been pushed away and left.

Yuu had left him again.

Lavi clutched his chest and covered his mouth with his hand. There was no need to cry. He had already cried and broken down.

There was no need for more.

The knocking didn't even register to him, or the calling of his name from his guide.

Everything was in too much turmoil to really pay attention to the outside world. He had to get control of himself, push all the emotions away and think about this rationally.

"Lavi, open up!"

He used to do this all the time. There should be no reason why he couldn't this time. It was just a matter of mind over heart and usually, more often than not his mind won. Only this time his heart was kind of murdering his mind and taking over.

The sound of the door's lock being broken didn't register, nor did Rose calling him.

Then she was kneeling in front of him and holding him and telling him just to let it all out. And because she was his guide, Lavi did and believed just for a moment, that it would be okay.

KxL

Ms. Cloud-stone had been the principal of All-Elemental Academy for well over 360 years now and in all her time, nothing as big as a spell gone wrong had happened here.

Now that wasn't the truth.

Rumors were going to start circulating soon about the student. The one who had been killed by a Dream-killer. A Dream-killer had made its way past the defenses of the dome.

She had wanted to tell the students of it and send the ones who could be sent home and house the Chosen ones in the barracks.

The council though…

The damn council had ruled for them all to remain here and for the attack to remain a secret and she had to come up with some story of what had happened to Chad.

A Chosen.

No Chosen had ever left this school that wasn't a graduate. They hadn't cared though, just wanted it all wrapped neatly in a bow and cleaned up.

Now she patrolled the school grounds while her teachers strengthened the dome an searched for cracks or holes.

This was going to be fixed soon and her students would be a hundred percent safe again.

She made her way into the forest of the training grounds. Students sometimes snuck in here at night, hoping for a scare. The white-belt hoped no student had received one.

A little over a mile in, her hopes were brutally crushed.

* * *

**I hope you all enjoyed the read and I would like to apologize now, because I didn't at the beginning, for any grammatical errors you found while reading this, I did have beta'd because there wasn't enough time(and because I don't know if my beta still wants me-over a year since an update! Dear Gawd!). If you liked this chapter, feel free to post a review telling me what you liked about it or even what you can't wait to read about; also tell me about your guys christmas day and what you got, I would love to hear about it :) So I hope you enjoyed this and I wish you guys a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!**

**Truly Yours,**

**~Klaanvdia**


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